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Are You Afraid of the Dark? #5
The Tale of the Secret Mirror
Crossover
Kim Chen's furious. Her little brother Doug has found her secret hiding place in the attic. She's determined to get rid of him. So to scare him away, she tells him there's a witch in the mirror who will come out if she calls "Mirror Maggie" three times. And she threatens to do just that if he won't stay out of her space. She beings to chant the magic words. . .
That night Kim hears someone creeping up the spiral staircase to the attic. Then she hears a shriek. It's Doug. Or is it? Soon she's swept into a sinister world where nothing is as it seems. . . a place where she and her family may well be imprisoned forever.
Unless Kim can find a way out. . .
Kim Chen's furious. Her little brother Doug has found her secret hiding place in the attic. She's determined to get rid of him. So to scare him away, she tells him there's a witch in the mirror who will come out if she calls "Mirror Maggie" three times. And she threatens to do just that if he won't stay out of her space. She beings to chant the magic words. . .
That night Kim hears someone creeping up the spiral staircase to the attic. Then she hears a shriek. It's Doug. Or is it? Soon she's swept into a sinister world where nothing is as it seems. . . a place where she and her family may well be imprisoned forever.
Unless Kim can find a way out. . .
130 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 1995
2 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
About the author
Brad Strickland
136 books107 followersWilliam Bradley Strickland (b. 1947) is the author (or co-author) of over 60 novels and over 60 pieces of short fiction and poetry.
Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.
His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.
Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.
After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).
In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.
Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.
Born in New Hollard, Strickland earned his Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Georgia. He has taught English courses at the University of Georgia, Oglethorpe University, Truett-McConnell College, and, since 1987, at Gainesville State College.
His first novel was 1986's To Stand Beneath the Sun, followed quickly by the books in the Jeremy Moon trilogy.
Strickland has shared co-author credit on many of his books: with his wife, Barbara, on stories in the Star Trek and Are You Afraid of the Dark? properties; and with the late author Thomas Fuller, books in the Wishbone series, involving the popular Jack Russell Terrier from the Public Television series of the same name. Strickland and Fuller also collaborated on numerous original works, including the Pirate Hunter series, the Mars: Year One series, and the comedic mystery for adults, The Ghost Finds a Body.
After the death of John Bellairs, Strickland was approached by John’s son, Frank, to complete the two books his father had already started; these unfinished manuscripts became The Ghost in the Mirror and The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder. Strickland also wrote two books based on brief plot outlines left by Bellairs: The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie and The Doom of the Haunted Opera. Beginning in 1996, Strickland has kept Bellairs' legacy alive by writing the further adventures of Johnny Dixon and Lewis Barnavelt. Books in the corpus include The Hand of the Necromancer (1996); The Tower at the End of the World (2001); The House Where Nobody Lived (2006); and his most recent title, The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008).
In 2001, Strickland won received the Georgia Author of the Year Award, Children's/Young Adult Division, for When Mack Came Back, set in WWII-era Georgia. Strickland says the story "is based on the farm owned by [his] grandfather, where [I] often visited when [I] was a child." Kong: King of Skull Island was released in 2005, an illustrated tale by Strickland, author John Michlig, and fantasy artist Joe DeVito that serves as both a prequel and sequel to the epic story of the legendary ape.
Strickland is an active member of the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, where he writes and performs in numerous audio drama projects. He was awarded the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. He is married to the former Barabara Justus and has two grown children.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 4, 2019
I thought this story was pretty well written and I like that it intertwined a different culture. It didn’t completely feel like an AYAOTD? story to me although I forgot that there was one that was similar-“The Tale of the Misfortune Cookies.”
I liked the whole alternate universe with the mirror world- very unique concept. I wish we could see these stories be played out through the series. It would be interesting to see how they would be done nowadays.
Once again, we have siblings that have to work together to overcome a massive issue that they usually create. In this case, Kim created this make-believe character from her imagination, Mirror Maggie. The mirror took this and intertwined it with the evil trapped in the mirror to create this hideous monster. She did this to scare her brother, Doug. It’s kind of a whole “Bloody Mary” concept and that is what ignites the witches magic to where she can trade out Kim and Doug for mindless clones. The grandmother appearing in her dreams gave me a “Ghost Whisperer” vibe when Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character would always encounter her dead grandma when she was going through something life altering.
I liked the whole alternate universe with the mirror world- very unique concept. I wish we could see these stories be played out through the series. It would be interesting to see how they would be done nowadays.
Once again, we have siblings that have to work together to overcome a massive issue that they usually create. In this case, Kim created this make-believe character from her imagination, Mirror Maggie. The mirror took this and intertwined it with the evil trapped in the mirror to create this hideous monster. She did this to scare her brother, Doug. It’s kind of a whole “Bloody Mary” concept and that is what ignites the witches magic to where she can trade out Kim and Doug for mindless clones. The grandmother appearing in her dreams gave me a “Ghost Whisperer” vibe when Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character would always encounter her dead grandma when she was going through something life altering.
January 31, 2019
This was pretty cute, but I definitely think it would have made a better TV episode than a book!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews